I'm looking for examples of songs produced in the last decade that sounds astonishingly like 1970s or 1980s rock, new wave, funk, or pop.

I'm weak on examples, but stretching it a bit I might offer Crystal by New Order, which was recorded in 2000 or 2001 but sounds a lot like something that would have charted in 1989. Another example might be Whats In It For by Avi Buffalo, recorded around 2010 but some of it could probably pass for ~1978 Supertramp if a Wurlitzer electric piano was thrown in.

I'm not sure what kind of results I might get from this question, especially there's a lot of 1980s bands touring that still play their old style, and a ton of acoustic songs could pass for the singer-songwriter style of the 70s, so unusual examples would be best. I'm also aware that a lot of this might be in the head of the listener, and that's cool; I want to hear it all.

You mentioned that there's a ton of the singer-songwriter stuff, but Iron and Wine's latest stands out to me as distinctively channeling Dan Fogelberg.posted by jbickers at 1:50 PM on December 12, 2012

My Morning Jacket's recent albums I think fit the bill (I'm thinking of Circuital and Evil Urges).posted by iamkimiam at 1:51 PM on December 12, 2012

The French label/collective Valerie explicitly takes on the 80s synthpop aesthetic from top to bottom. A few bands from the label were featured in Drive, if you've seen it.posted by griphus at 2:00 PM on December 12, 2012

The Cars released Move Like This last year, and it sounds astonishingly close to how they were in the 80's. The album could have easily been released back then, in my opinion. Nice, fuzzy synth sounds.posted by Krazor at 2:41 PM on December 12, 2012

Check out the subreddit r/SoundsVintage. It casts a wider net but might have some of what you're looking for.posted by brieche at 2:42 PM on December 12, 2012

M83 sounds like mid-80s synth-rock to me.
The Darkness is somewhere between satire and tribute to 80s hair-metal bands.
I've been hearing a lot of 80s-revival sounds lately, in fact.posted by adamrice at 3:01 PM on December 12, 2012

Ronika's musical style is really convincingly early-80s, even if she hasn't gotten much play outside of PopJustice. Her videos for Forget Yourself and Automatic are pretty good examples.posted by bcwinters at 3:48 PM on December 12, 2012

The last 2 John Foxx and The Maths albums sound like they were recorded somewhere between '79 and '82.posted by davebush at 4:17 PM on December 12, 2012 [1 favorite]

There were a whole spate of bands in 2004 or so which sounded like contemporaries of Orange Juice, XTC or Gang of Four - Futureheads, Maximo Park, Bloc Party (I thougth for ages that Banquet sampled the Fun Boy Three) Hot Hot Heat. Dogs Die In Hot Cars were around the same time but sounded more like 10CC or ELO.

Gruff Rhys did a concept album about John Delorean which deliberately sounded like mid-80s pop. I always think of Black Affair and some of The Sleepy Jackson (there was a spin-off band whose name I can't remember right now) as being in a similar vein.

especially there's a lot of 1980s bands touring that still play their old style

New Order would fall into this category for me. Crystal would slot into the 80s pretty well, but it mostly sounds like a New Order record, rather than an 80s record.posted by mippy at 4:19 PM on December 12, 2012 [1 favorite]

There are currently a lot of doom metal and psychedelic rock acts harking back to '70s sounds...

Also, there are literally hundreds of bands striving to emulate the C86/Sarah sound. Tigercats sound very like late-period Orange Juice to me. I heard a band at my SO's house who I could have sworn were the Jesus and Mary Chain. Depends on your definition of 'pop', though.

Ladytron just fit into your decade cut-off - they started out being kind of Krautrock and then went electropop. Though like Stereolab and Broadcast, they emulate past sounds but in a way that sounds haunting rather than pastiche.posted by mippy at 4:25 PM on December 12, 2012

Thanks, I am going to check out all of this... it also didn't occur to me that the use of retro synthesizers (like the DX7) might be one defining characteristic of this kind of music.posted by crapmatic at 4:32 PM on December 12, 2012

Nthing Scissor Sisters. I've had more than one person think I was lying to them when I told them the Scissor Sisters album I was listening to was written in the past few years.posted by rhiannonstone at 11:36 PM on December 12, 2012

bearwife's suggestion of Amy Winehouse reminded me that Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings also has that old-school Motown sound.posted by under_petticoat_rule at 2:25 PM on December 13, 2012

The band Trembling Bells sound ridiculously like 1970s British folk rock (Fairport Convention, Pentangle, Steeleye Span), especially on their first album Carbeth (2009). For example: "Willows of Carbeth".posted by Harvey Kilobit at 1:19 AM on December 14, 2012

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